1. Field
The present invention relates to a refrigerator. Particularly, the present invention relates to an ice making device equipped at a freezing chamber of a home refrigerator, and more particularly to an ice making device having a water supply unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a home refrigerator is disposed with an ice making device for making small ice cubes, also known as ice balls. The ice making device for a conventional home refrigerator includes an ice making unit (200) attachably and detachably disposed at a shelf of a freezing chamber provided at one side of a cooling chamber (R) of the refrigerator (100), as shown in FIG. 1.
The ice making unit (200) includes an ice making tray (210) and an ice making case (220) each separably disposed as illustrated in FIG. 2. The ice making tray (210) is such that an ice making mold (212) is rotatably disposed in a square molded frame (211). The ice making mold (212) is provided with a plurality of partitioned ice making grooves (212a) in which small ice cubes can be formed. The ice making mold (212) can be rotated to approximately 180 degrees by the manipulation of a twisting lever (213) to enable to separate and discharge each iced cubes into an ice making case (220).
The ice making device of the conventional refrigerator thus described is operated in such a manner that, when water is supplied for ice making, the ice making tray (210) is dismantled from a shelf of the freezing chamber (F), and water is supplied to and filled into the ice making grooves (212a) of the ice making mold (212), or the ice making grooves (212a) of the ice making mold (212) is supplied with water via a portable container such as a pot or a kettle.
The ice making device of the conventional refrigerator is such that it is not easy to supply a proper amount of water, causing a frequent overflow or lack of water and decreasing the ice making efficiency and convenience in use.